More than 470 people killed in Syria’s Ghouta as UN postpones vote

Srinagar: As the death toll in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta surpasses 470, a UN Security Council vote on a draft resolution seeking a 30-day ceasefire across the country has been postponed until later on Saturday, AlJazeera reported.

The vote had already been delayed several times, as council members tried to convince Russia to agree to a resolution.

More than 470 people, including 150 children, have been killed in the Damascus suburb since Sunday, according to UK-based The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

Another 2,330 people have been wounded, SOHR said on Friday evening. Dozens of other people were missing “under the rubble”, it added, as Russian-backed Syrian forces continued their aerial assault on the rebel-held enclave, home to some 400,000 people.

Eastern Ghouta is the last remaining rebel-held area east of Damascus and has been under siege by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces since 2013.